


Meeting Notes and Unresolved Business of the Gender-Nonconforming Club

by NervousAsexual



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Other, agender Odo, gender fluid Dax, nonbinary Garak
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-18
Updated: 2017-10-18
Packaged: 2019-01-08 17:08:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,119
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12258552
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NervousAsexual/pseuds/NervousAsexual
Summary: Garak sends out invites for his new club of nonbinary folk.





	Meeting Notes and Unresolved Business of the Gender-Nonconforming Club

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ssorrell](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ssorrell/gifts).



> Kellan wanted some Garak&Jadzia friend fic, so... I made this, whatever it is.
> 
> Also, this takes place in the same universe as [Odo Writes a Holonovel](http://archiveofourown.org/series/706479).

Jadzia showed up bright and early at the security offices, gold-foil invitation in her hands.

"Aha," she said, pointing at an identical invitation on Odo's desk. "I had a feeling he'd sent you one too!"

Odo glanced down at the invitation. "Did you now. How, precisely?"

"Well, if I was going to make a club out of gender nonconformists, you'd be the first person I'd think of."

"Is that what it stands for." Odo picked up the invite, upon which were embossed the letters "GNC," several understated exclamation points, and increasingly convoluted directions to a table at Quark's. "I thought it was an abbreviation for 'Garak needs companionship.'"

And he dropped the invitation into the waste disposal unit.

"Odo!" Jadzia snatched it up.

"I've seen this club meeting before. It is Garak sitting at his usual table at Quark's, drinking kanar, flirting with Dr Bashir, and acting vaguely suspicious."

"Aw, come on, Odo. He's clearly put a lot of work into this. Maybe he has door prizes."

Odo grunted dismissively.

"Maybe one of the door prizes is a sense of fun."

 Odo chose to ignore her, so Jadzia went on her way.

 

She expected to find Dr. Bashir hanging around, but it was just Garak at the corner table on the second floor of Quark's, knitting intarsia and sipping kanar with a straw. When he saw her he brightened visibly.

"My dear Dax!" he said, patting the chair beside him. "What a delight to see you! Have a seat!"

"I wasn't sure whether to bring a snack or not," she said. "So I didn't."

Garak shook his head. "Quite alright. The snacks come with the table, and the table is free for members of the GNC club."

Jadzia was impressed. "Free table? Comped food? At Quark's? Share your secret!"

"No secret, I've simply invested a great deal into Quark's over the years and suggested this as an alternative to repayment."

"Fascinating." She took her seat. The view was very nice. From here she could see most of the bar and only a little of it was blocked by Morn's head. "What are you knitting there?"

He held up his needles and adjusted the work so she could see the tube he was knitting. The tube itself was black, with some kind of design on the front in grey, white and green. "Thank you for reminding me, I need to get your measurements. I thought it might be amusing to have matching sweaters for the club with little Terok Nors on the front in pride colors. This one is for Odo... If it doesn't fit him he can always readjust his form accordingly."

"I don't think he's planning on coming."

 Garak sighed and resumed knitting. "That will make the door prizes less exciting."

 Jadzia patted his shoulder. "I'm sure the sweater will buy at least a little of his love."

"Alas, dear Dax, I'm not sure the constable has any love to give. The best I can hope for is his tolerance."

"Odo loves some things. Justice, for instance. And... his bucket."

Garak heaved a dramatic sigh and closed his eyes, looking like nothing more than a very displeased lizard.

He was like a tiny child, Jadzia reflected, throwing a passive-aggressive tantrum to get his way. A tiny child with... interesting fashion choices. "What do you want help with, Garak?"

Immediately he brightened.

"An excellent question," he said, setting the knitting on the table. "While I'm sure Odo will... tolerate a simple sweater, I'd like to better tailor it to him."

"Why? Shape-shifting is one of the few things Odo does love." Quark passed by beneath them, carrying a tray of drinks for the Vulcan ambassador and entourage gathered gloomily at the dabo tables. She flicked a sand pea down at his head. "Wouldn't he love a sweater more if wearing it meant he needed to shape-shift?"

"I did consider that briefly."

Quark turned and squinted up in their direction. Jadzia subtly pointed at Garak.

"Ultimately I fear a sweater that doesn't fit his usual form would look lazy. Therefore I need your help to determine his measurements."

Whatever the Vulcans were doing over there, it must have been important, because Quark only gave her the stink eye and moved on. "What do you propose?"

"I'd like to think we can do this scientifically."

"Shoot dang," Jadzia said. "I know science."

 

 

"I am still uninterested in the idea of a club, Dax," Odo said when Jadzia returned to the security office.

"Cool," Jadzia said. "Cool cool cool cool. That's not why I'm here, but cool."

Odo gazed at her doubtfully, setting aside his reports. "Why, then...?"

"Your holonovel," she interrupted. "I played it again."

In the chilly silence that followed, Keiko O'Brien passed through the office into the cell block, carrying in her hands a small milk pot. She returned empty-handed.

"It opened into an [irritating little v-shape](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Bxuena4mWs)," she said by way of explanation, and left.

 "I replayed the holonovel," Jadzia continued. "And I have to say I'm still impressed that it's your first work. It's well put together in its simplicity. It perfectly emulates the tough love and compassion that the player needs."

"Hmph," Odo grumbled, but Jadzia noted with satisfaction he looked proud. "What exactly is it you want, Dax?"

"A hug."

"A hug."

"Yes." Jadzia held out her arms. "Is that too much to ask?"

Odo sighed. He cast his gaze from one side of the room to the other, and, seeing no one, he got to his feet and approached her.

"Tell no one of this," he said, and hugged her.

"Of course not," said Jadzia. From some hidden pocket she retrieved a finger trap, put her arms around Odo, and jammed her fingers into the trap, effectively trapping Odo in the hug.

"Why do you do these things?" Odo asked, sounding less alarmed and more resigned.

"It seemed like a good idea at the time."

He shape-shifted out of the hug. "I have work to do, Dax. If you would kindly...?"

Jadzia smiled broadly at him, still holding the hugging position.

"I am not coming back," he said.

Still Jadzia smiled.

With a long suffering sigh, Odo excused himself down to the Promenade.

For a moment Jadzia stood alone in the security office. The doors opened wide, and Garak hurried in and held his tape measure up to the half a hug.

"How's that?" Jadzia asked him.

"Perfect," said Garak. "Now we'll need to determine the lenth of his torso, but I feel that would be simple to do mathematically, as long as we have something to compare him against."

"I have the perfect idea," Jadzia said, and began to cackle wickedly. After a polite moment of waiting Garak joined in.

 

The artificial gravity in Quark's had been turned down to unprecedented levels to prepare for a wedding reception of Elysians, and beautiful chaos had ensued.

The Elysians of course were having a grand old time, flipping around and around the bar, but after years on DS9 the majority of regulars were unused to such conditions. Most of the chairs had been fastened to the floor to keep the patrons from floating away, and the drinks had been sealed in pouches that Jadzia knew for a fact had been liberated from an Elysian freighter on its way to a new colony, but not a lot of thought had been put into the evening beyond those precautions.

Rom personally had to handle all refills, as only he knew the secret procedure for actually getting the drinks into the pouches. The air was dotted here and there with sand peas that had floated away from their bowls. Morn hovered in the back corner at a 127° angle. In the middle of it all floated Odo, a frown upon his face and Quark cuffed to his wrist.

"How's it going?" Jadzia asked. She and Garak had returned to the GNC table for the fun.

"I think I've figured out Odo's arm length," Garak said, referring again to his spyglasses--or more specifically, Dr Bashir's spyglasses that he had borrowed. "Now if I could compare the torso length..."

"Roger that." Jadzia clicked her two way radio. "Shoulder-rubbin' time, good buddy."

Across the room, Quark frowned and fumbled with his own radio.

"I hate you both," he said.

"No he doesn't," Garak said.

"No you don't," said Jadzia.

And across the room Quark heaved a sigh and latched himself onto Odo's back, so that their shoulders were roughly at the same height.

"He actually loves us," Jadzia said, and Garak smiled.

 

A small crowd had gathered behind Blind Alenis' jumja stick kiosk, disrupting her business and causing many a complainant to kick down the door of the security office.

"Stand aside," Odo demanded, squeezing his way through. "Security, coming through. I said security!"

At the center of the hubbub stood a Jeffries tube, open, darkened, with an ominous clicking noise being emitted from within. Odo knelt beside it and peered in.

"Hello, constable," came Garak's voice from within. "Thank you for joining me."

Upon closer inspection Odo saw the Cardassian squeezed in at an odd angle. The clicking came from his knitting needles. He did not appear to be badly hurt.

"Are you stuck?" Odo demanded.

"I am not."

"Then kindly remove yourself from the maintenance tube."

"I will not."

Odo said nothing.

"You'll have to come in and get me."

Odo sighed impatiently. "I really don't have time for your games, Garak. If you won't come out now, I will send an engineer by later." He started to withdraw.

"Wait!" Garak called. "There is something I must tell you."

This time Odo's sigh was even more irritated than before. "What is it?"

"Come closer. I don't want the others to hear."

Odo squeezed into the Jeffries tube. "What now?"

"Closer."

"I think I am close enough."

"Odo, closer."

Instead of coming closer Odo extended his neck so his head came closer.

"What?" he demanded.

Garak touched a finger to the tip of Odo's nose.

"Boop," he said.

Odo withdrew his head and backed out of the tube, swearing in several different languages both known and unknown to the universal translators.

"Stay in there, then," he snapped, and then, to the crowd, "Nothing to see. Break it up. I said break it up!"

Garak returned to his knitting. "Did you get it?"

The top panel of the tube opened to reveal Jadzia, brandishing a sub-micron scanner.

"I got something," she said. "But with the conservation of mass I'm afraid the neck measurements may be off."

"It will have to do," Garak said. "I'm afraid he's growing tired of our antics."

"Same, to be honest." Jadzia did her best to squeeze her way through the open panel. "When do I get my sweater?"

"Soon," Garak said, and booped her nose as well. "Soon."

 

They cornered Odo in the security office in their Terok Nor pride shirts. Garak's was black with white, purple, and gold stripes, Jadzia's was blue with pink, white, black, and purple stripes, and Odo was beige with stripes of irritation and flight instinct.

"I want no part of your little knitting guild," he said, molding himself to fit better into the corner. "And I don't want any of your hugs, either."

"What about a sweater?" Garak asked. He and Jadzia proudly unfurled the Odo-sized sweater. "We worked quite hard on it."

Odo frowned at the sweater, but his expression was unreadable.

"If I wear the sweater do you promise to leave me alone?" he asked at last.

Jadzia crossed her heart.

"And you won't keep after me about this silly club of yours?"

Garak gave a single solemn nod.

Odo huffed.

"Very well then," he said, and braced himself as they pounced. The sweater fit surprisingly well, although the collar was a bit droopy. "Are you satisfied?"

Garak looked at Jadzia, and Jadzia looked at Garak. They nodded.

"Then remove yourselves from my office before I throw you both in the cells."

They scampered out the door and were gone.

Odo sat down at his desk.

"Waste of time," he mumbled to himself, rubbing the soft knitting. "Waste of energy. Waste of..."

His voice trailed away as he petted the sweater. Then, double-checking to be sure no one was around, he shifted the mass in his neck so that it fit just perfectly.

 

Garak and Jadzia observed these proceedings from across the Promenade, each through one eye of Dr Bashir's spyglasses.

"That nerd secretly does love us," Jadzia said.

"I believe you are right."

They each smiled at the other.

"Wanna go bug Quark?" Jadzia asked at last.

"My dear Dax," said Garak, "I thought you'd never ask."


End file.
